The release of thousands of classified military documents from the Afghanistan war on the Internet, mainly by the whistleblower website Wikileaks has brought embarrassment to the US and Pakistan Governments. The 91,000 classified documents about US military involvement in Afghanistan has opened a Pandora’s Box of sorts.
The leaked documents show that the US authorities are covertly of the strong belief that the Pakistan intelligence agencies are playing a double game – of helping the NATO forces to track down terrorists in South Waziristan and Swat, at the same time encouraging and even funding insurgents inside Afghanistan as ‘strategic assets’ against traditional foes. These documents and the facts in them have come as a major embarrassment for the Pakistan government, its military and the intelligence services. What has put the US government in a spot of bother is the revelation that many actions by the US military in Afghanistan amount prima facie to war crimes, where they have indiscriminately ambushed civilians all across the war ravaged country, at many occasions, unprovoked.
The classified documents suggest that the Pakistan military acted like a friend and a foe to the Afghan insurgents. There are reports that show that the Pakistan intelligence worked with the Al-Qaeda to plan attacks. However, experts believe that though the Afghan insurgents and Pakistan militants work together, directly linking the Al-Qaeda with the Pakistani intelligence agencies like the ISI is difficult. The reports also show that though there is a palpable sense of camaraderie between the US administration and the Pakistan military, behind the scenes there are occasions of confrontation between the two. At the same time, several US congressional officials complained that in spite of repeated requests over the years for information on Pakistan’s support to insurgent groups, they usually get vague and incomplete briefings from Pentagon and CIA. Accusations that Pakistan military and the intelligence agencies are working together with insurgents are always met with angry denials from Pakistan. They have always said that they have severed the relationship with Afghan insurgents years back. American officials believe that though ISI is a rigid organisation that doesn’t allow rogue activities of their members, the spy service’s “S Wing”, which operates against the Afghan government and India has broad autonomy for their operations.
The leaked military classified documents show details of the toll on Afghan civilians exacted by the coalition forces. The logs reveal 144 such incidents and they are mainly about the controversial air strikes by the coalition forces, which have already evoked criticism from the Afghan authorities. In addition to these deadly air strikes, the logs also show previously unknown incidents that appear to be the results of troops shooting unarmed drivers out of a determination to protect themselves from suicide bombers. They show bloody errors committed by the coalition forces including the day French troops attacked a bus full of children in 2008, wounding eight. The logs also show accounts of such ghastly incidents on how a US patrol gunned down about 15 passengers on a bus and how the Polish troops mortared a village in 2007 killing a wedding party in an apparent revenge attack. There are details of questionable shooting by British troops at civilians as well.
The leaking of the war documents has started showing its impact. Pakistan administration is facing a lot of questions on the involvement of their intelligence agencies in helping the Afghan insurgents and many countries have started putting more pressure on the Pakistan government to come clean on this issue. The criticism from the British Prime Minister David Cameron, when he recently visited India, is one good example for this increasing pressure on the Pakistan government by the international community. The American government is also under increased pressure because of the leaking of the classified military documents. It has also strengthened anti-war sentiments in the US. Whether this brave act of Wikileaks would bring any change to the present state of affairs is yet to be seen.
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